Cult of Skaro
The Cult of Skaro was an elite order of Daleks from the television series Doctor Who, and the first individual Daleks whose recurring nature has been explicit. With the exception of Dalek Sec, whose hybrid form is portrayed and voiced by Eric Loren, all of the Daleks are voiced by Nicholas Briggs. Background First appearing in "Army of Ghosts" and fully introduced in "Doomsday", the Cult of Skaro (described by the Doctor as an elite organisation which outranks even the Emperor of the Daleks, who created them) are assigned to think as their enemies think and find new ways of killing them - and surviving.. This even extends to them developing imaginations and taking on individual names. According to the Doctor Who Files book on the Cult Of Skaro, the members of the cult all had been commanders of different sections of the Dalek army, before they were selected and promoted by the Dalek Emperor. Four of these Daleks (Dalek Thay, Dalek Caan, Dalek Jast'In the original shooting script, this Dalek was named "Dalek Rabe", but the name was changed to "Dalek Jast" in the final dub. Some publications, such as the ''Doctor Who - Battles in Time collectible card game and the Doctor Who Files Dalek book, use "Dalek Rabe", but the episode as aired and released on DVD uses "Dalek Jast". and a black Dalek named '''Dalek Sec) escaped the end of the Time War in a void ship along with a captured Time Lord prison ship containing millions of Daleks, which they called the Genesis Ark. They have the ability to extract information from living brains through the use of their suction cups, although this may result in death of the person. The Doctor caused the Daleks released from the Genesis Ark to be sucked back into the Void, but Sec and the rest of the Cult of Skaro managed to initiate an emergency temporal shift to 1930s New York City. The Cult believed they were the last four Daleks in existence. The Cult of Skaro returned in "Daleks in Manhattan". Operating from a laboratory underneath the Empire State Building, the Cult use "Pig-slaves" to capture people for their experiments. As the last of their race, the Cult's situation became desperate, with Dalek Thay sacrificing his rear casing for construction of a mast at the top of the building. Dalek Sec questioned the genetic superiority of the Dalek race, and proposed the creation of a Hybrid Dalek which they hoped would combine the best traits of both humans and Daleks. In "Evolution of the Daleks", Sec was removed from command by Dalek Caan, before being accidentally exterminated by Thay, sacrificing himself to save The Doctor. The Dalek Humans exterminated Thay and Jast soon after. Dalek Caan destroyed the hybrids and initiated another temporal shift, becoming the last known living Dalek in existence. In the 2008 episode The Stolen Earth, it is revealed that Dalek Caan travelled to the first year of the Time War, despite it being time-locked. Doing so cost Caan his sanity. However, Caan saw the future. Whilst in the Time War, Dalek Caan rescued Davros from the wreckage of his command ship, allowing Davros to return to the present day and create a new Dalek Empire with his DNA. Davros holds Caan in high esteem, although the new Daleks believe Caan to be an "abomination" due to his insanity and his possession of emotions. When he passed though time and space to rescue Davros he saw the carnage of the Dalek race. In Journey's End Caan convinced the Half Doctor to destroy the Daleks and end their reign of terror. Dalek Caan and Davros are believed to have been killed when the Crucible was destroyed by the Half Doctor. However, Russel T. Davies confirmed that Davros may still be alive, as he said "I'd never be the writer to kill off Davros". Markings Aside from their voices and Dalek Sec's unique colouring scheme, each Dalek in the cult has a specific marking on their casing to set them apart from the others. This marking consists of a rectangle connected to a small square by a line on its right side. Within the rectangle are three small lines arranged vertically on the left side. To distinguish one Dalek from another, an additional line is drawn from one of these three, or none at all in the case of Dalek Sec. Thay has his line at the bottom, Caan in the middle and Jast at the top. Dalek Sec Dalek Sec was the leader of the cult and of the Dalek attack during the Battle of Canary Wharf against the Cybermen. His original casing was black instead of the golden color traditional Daleks had. He showed his leadership by communicating to the enemy, namely, Rose Tyler, Cybermen and The Doctor, and commanding the other three Daleks. Because there were only four Daleks outside the void, Sec fought alongside the other Cult members against the enemy, and kept checking the status of the Genesis Ark. However, as soon as the Ark was 'primed' Sec escaped the Torchwood tower with the Ark, to command the entire army of Daleks from the sky whilst keeping a close watch on the Ark. Because the Cyberman Army and the Void Ship containing the Cult, the Genesis Ark, and the Dalek Army within had travelled through the void, they had all picked up 'void stuff' which, when the Doctor reversed the flow of the radiation, sucked both armies, the Genesis Ark and the Void Ship back into the Void. Dalek Sec and the Cult were able to escape the slaughter by initiating an Emergency Temporal Shift. (This would seem to be an ability held only by the Cult as no other Dalek has demonstrated an Emergency Temporal Shift.) Along with the rest of the Cult of Skaro, he ended up in New York in 1930 and established a base beneath the Empire State Building. Taking control of the Empire State construction and forcibly converting humans into "pig slaves" to serve as a labour force, the Cult of Skaro also worked on experiments designed to evolve Dalek-kind into a new form. The Cult recruited the power-hungry human servant Mr Diagoras, who seemed to think like a Dalek the most, which Dalek Caan admitted. Sec turned against the concept of Dalek genetic purity, viewing survival as more important and seeing human DNA as holding useful attributes, as the humans thrive as a species whereas the Daleks had become extinct. Using himself and Mr Diagoras as the test for the Final Experiment, he was transformed into the first Hybrid Dalek. While in his new body, he began to feel humanity for the first time in his existence, being motivated by emotions rather than the traditional Dalek drive to conquer. Motivated by these, Sec asked the Doctor to help him create more hybrids using human bodies, and started to express his feelings that their creator, Davros was wrong. He decided to have the new race live on, different from the Daleks, since if they continued to try to be superior, they would eventually die. However, the other Daleks came to reject Sec's theories and eventually betrayed him while Dalek Caan took control (even though he was last in command) and fueled the other human bodies with pure Dalek DNA. When the Daleks tracked the Doctor down, they took Sec with them, putting him in chains and accidentally exterminating him when he saved the Doctor by sacrificing himself. The Doctor showed his respect for Sec by calling him the "cleverest Dalek ever" and the only creature that could have led the Daleks from the darkness. Dalek Sec made a prediction mere seconds before his death, stating "My Daleks... understand this. If you choose death and destruction... then death and destruction will choose you." Dalek Thay had dismissed the thought at the time, but a mere minute later he was the next of the Cult to die, by the hands of the Human Daleks. Dalek Jast was also killed at this time. It is worth noting that, due to his hybridisation from Dalek to Human Dalek, Dalek Sec has been the first Dalek to repent the deaths he caused (Dalek Caan being the second), and the only Dalek who willingly sacrificed himself to save the Doctor. His character as a Dalek/Human hybrid is not entirely clear, as, although he eventually feels humanity, it is sometimes also implied that he still had plans to cause destruction. An example would be when Dalek Caan becomes 'controller' of the Human Daleks; Sec responds to this act of treachery with "That was to be my position!" When he was a Dalek, the mutant inside Sec had longer tentacles than other previously seen mutants, and was able to engulf Mr Diagoras in a sack-like membrane projected from what appears to be his mouthparts. His "skin" had a dark-greenish color to it as well. According to the Doctor Who Files book on the Cult Of Skaro, Dalek Sec was the Commander of the Seventh Incursion Squad and led the attack on the Mechonoids on Magella before being promoted by the Dalek Emperor. A miniature Lego Dalek Sec has been installed on the Canary Wharf Miniland section of Legoland . Dalek Caan Dalek Caan was originally second in command to Dalek Sec, but he ruthlessly overthrew him after he (Sec) became the Human Dalek, and took his position as leader of the cult. According to the book Doctor Who Files, regarding the Cult of Skaro, Dalek Caan was the Attack Squad Leader of the Thirtieth Assault Group before being promoted by the Dalek Emperor. He has the lowest pitched voice in the Cult, and is the most prominent Dalek of the revived series, having appeared in a total of six episodes. Dalek Caan also has the most varied story arc of any Dalek. He fought in the Battle of Canary Wharf, but his role in "Doomsday" was minor. He escaped with the rest of the Cult. When the Daleks arrived in 1930s Manhattan, Caan had a far more significant role. He oversaw the construction of the Empire State Building, delivering orders from Sec to Mr. Diagoras, and acted as the Cult's contact on the surface. After Sec's transformation into a Human Dalek, Caan and Jast begin to doubt their leader's motives. When Sec decided to give the Human-Daleks emotions, Caan intervenes, altering the process to make them 100% Dalek. Caan overthrew Sec and took command of the Cult. After the Tenth Doctor spliced his own DNA into the Human-Daleks, Caan destroyed the hybrid species. Dalek Caan reappears in "The Stolen Earth". An emergency temporal shift used to escape from Manhattan somehow brought him into the time-locked Time War, allowing him to rescue Davros, the creator of the Daleks. During this rescue mission, Caan "died a thousand times" and most of his casing was badly damaged. These "deaths," coupled with the near-impossible feat of navigating himself into a "time-locked" event, destroyed his mind. However, he was also allowed to witness "all of time," effectively making him precognitive Most of his prophecies are doggerel, and require careful interpretation. He appears to become a lot more lucid as his plans come to fruition, however. Other Daleks can be heard referring to Caan as 'The Abomination' — a title also given to the Special Weapons Dalek in the novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks, and to Rose Tyler, having absorbed the power of the Time Vortex in "The Parting of the Ways". Caan is the first Dalek seen to laugh (albeit insanely) in the BBC's revival of Doctor Who. However, it should be noted that the humanised Daleks in the classic series serial Evil of the Daleks are also heard laughing. Before the destruction of the crucible, Caan reminded the Doctor that one of his companions would die, which soon turned out to be Donna, having no recollection of the Doctor. Dalek Caan is one of very few Daleks who come to realise - in his case through his witnessing the actions of all Daleks throughout time - that the Dalek way of existing is destructive and intolerable. He fulfills the prediction Dalek Sec made before he was killed, by manipulating events throughout time to cause the new Daleks made by Davros to be destroyed. He himself claims that he only helped, and that the events which occurred were fated anyway. Dalek Thay Dalek Thay was the first to be named on screen. He was third in command to Sec. He initiated Dalek hostilities on the invading Cybermen army after exterminating two of them in "Doomsday". Thay fought in the Battle of Canary Wharf and "temporally shifted" along with the other members of the Cult of Skaro when the Doctor reopened the Void. Like the other regular Dalek members of the Cult, he had doubts about Dalek Sec's plan to merge with a human as part of Sec's vision of Dalek "evolution". He sacrificed three panels of his skirt to create the lightning conductor of the Empire State Building. In the climax of "Evolution of the Daleks", Thay inadvertently exterminated the Hybrid Dalek Sec, who sacrificed himself to save the Doctor's life. Thay was destroyed (along with Dalek Jast) when the Dalek Human hybrids rebelled against the orders to kill the Doctor and opened fire on the Daleks instead. According to the Doctor Who Files book on the Cult Of Skaro, Dalek Thay was the Commandant of Station Alpha, the most secret Dalek research facility, before being promoted by the Dalek Emperor. Dalek Jast Dalek Jast oversaw the status of the Genesis Ark in Doomsday. He fought in the Battle of Canary Wharf and escaped the void with his comrades.He was the fourth in command of the cult. Jast and Thay assisted Sec in experiments underneath the Empire State Building. When Sec was about to merge with Mr. Diagoras and become the first Human Dalek, he and Thay intervened with Sec's experiment in order to maintain Dalek purity, but Sec retorted that their road for supremacy has brought the Daleks to extinction. Jast continued to question Sec's motives, and eventually betrayed him along with Thay and Caan. He was destroyed by the Dalek humans along with Dalek Thay by the weapons of the human Daleks. Dalek Jast had the highest-pitched voice in the Cult. He was the third member to be exterminated, shortly after Thay. According to the Doctor Who Files book on the Cult Of Skaro, Dalek Jast was Force Leader of the Outer Rim Defensive Battalion before being promoted by the Dalek Emperor. Jast was the youngest of the Daleks and is believed to have killed the fewest number of people out of the rest of the cult. See also * Dalek variants Category:Doctor Who characters Category:Extraterrestrial supervillains Category:Fictional mutants Category:Fictional cults Category:Fictional mass murderers Category:Fictional prophets Category:Fictional cult leaders Category:2006 introductions